The news media always seems to lose their nerve with the wrong people at the worst times. The news media almost always grows politely silent when it’s time to be firm and inquisitive.

Thus, thus the follow-up questions that audiences are eager to have answered are never even asked. The recent terrorist bombings that left 200 murdered and 300 injured in Mumbai inspired the usual shock and outrage. And the same, boilerplate responses from Muslim spokesmen here, there and everywhere: “This is not what Islam teaches” and/or “These are not real Muslims; Islam teaches respect for life.”

For example, an organization known as Muslim Matters, responded with:

“As Muslims, we condemn such senseless carnage against innocent civilians, wherever it may occur. This goes against the fundamental spirit of Islam, which promotes a culture of life and humanity, not bloodshed and violence. And another example of why extremist ideology, whatever that ideology may be, needs to be refuted and condemned.”

Well, that sounds better than good; that sounds great. And who wouldn’t want to believe that? I know that I would. But, by now, we all know this drill. The Muslim world is predominantly a peaceful one, one that condemns the murders committed in the name of Islam that occurred in Mumbai, and before that New York, Washington, London, Madrid, Bali, Mindanao, Rome, Athens, Berlin, Buenos Aires, on a cruise ship, on a passenger ferry, in commercial aircraft, on trains, in subway stations, theaters, schools, nightclubs, schools, synagogues, Beijing, Nairobi, Moscow, Jakarta, Istanbul, Casablanca, Tunis . . .

Yet, just once I’d like to hear (or read) one of these spokespersons asked the following: “If Islam condemns the work of Muslims who slaughter innocent people, why is there far greater evidence to the contrary? Why do the only mass demonstrations of Muslims call for more blood, more murder, ‘Death to the Infidels!’ and the sustained cry for jihad, the world over? “Why are public demonstrations held to venerate the murderers rather than to mourn the victims?”

Next question: “If Islamic terrorists are so at odds with the beliefs of most of the Muslim world, why have cities within countries that allow freedom-of-expression public demonstrations never seen a mass rally by Muslims expressing their condemnation and full detachment from Islamic murder squads?”

More: “Cities such as New York, Amsterdam, Brussels and London, all with considerable Muslim populations, would welcome such expressions; the entire free world would. So where are they?”

In addition: Why are the only Muslim demonstrations in both predominantly Islamic, theocratic countries, and in Western, predominantly democratic countries, in support of Islamic terrorists, those whose actions Muslim spokespeople routinely condemn as antithetical to mainstream Islam?

If the vast majority of the Muslim world despises the actions of a tiny minority of Muslims, why hasn’t that vast majority risen, en masse, to let everyone, including the terrorists, know?

Now (em) those (/em) would be some questions, the answers to which you’d stay tuned to hear, no?

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I keep forgetting, does warm clothing cause winter weather or is it the other way around? It’s that time of year when local newscasts become even more comically insulting, when alarms are sounded throughout the telecasts, starting at the very top, to run for your lives – cold weather is here! Coincidentally, these semi-hysterical alerts (including suggestions as to what to wear should we violate the lock down and step outside), every year seem to begin in December then last through February.

A pattern seems to have developed, as if it’s a seasonal thing, or something.